1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an occupant restraint system in which an airbag is disposed in a folded state along an upper edge of a door opening of a vehicle body and the airbag is inflated by a gas generated by an inflator when the vehicle is involved in a collision so that it is deployed into a curtain shape along the inner face of a side of an occupant compartment.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional occupant restraint system is known in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Nos. 2000-33847 and 11-235965. In this type of occupant restraint system, a front part of the airbag is housed in a folded state within a front pillar garnish covering a side face, on the occupant compartment side, of a front pillar, and the airbag is deployed within the occupant compartment by deforming a part of the front pillar garnish.
Formed on the inner face of the known front pillar garnish are a large number of impact absorbing ribs for absorbing the impact of a secondary collision to an occupant. Since the rigidity of the front pillar garnish against flexing is increased by the impact absorbing ribs, the front pillar garnish becomes resistant to the flexing when the airbag is deployed, and there is a possibility that smooth deployment of the airbag might be inhibited and a part of the front pillar garnish might split and scatter.
The present invention has been achieved in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and it is an object of the present invention to allow an airbag housed within a front pillar garnish to be deployed smoothly while maintaining the impact absorbing effect of the front pillar garnish by the impact absorbing ribs.
In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, a first aspect of the present invention proposes an occupant restraint system for a vehicle that includes an airbag disposed in a folded state along an upper edge of a door opening of a vehicle body; an inflator that generates gas when the vehicle is involved in a collision to inflate the airbag so that it is deployed in a curtain shape along an inner face of a side of an occupant compartment; a part of the folded airbag is housed within a front pillar garnish covering a side face, on the occupant compartment side, of a front pillar such that the garnish is deformed when the airbag is deployed; and an impact absorbing rib is formed on an inner face of a section of the front pillar garnish that is little deformed by deployment of the airbag.
Preferably a plurality of the impact absorbing ribs are formed on the front pillar garnish, but only on section(s) of the garnish which are little deformed by the deployment of the airbag.
In accordance with the above-mentioned system arrangement, the airbag is housed in a folded state within the front pillar garnish covering the side face, on the occupant compartment side, of the front pillar, and deploys within the occupant compartment through an opening formed by deforming a part of the front pillar garnish. In this case, since none of the impact absorbing ribs are formed on a section of the front pillar garnish that is to be deformed, there is neither inhibition to the smooth deployment of the airbag by the impact absorbing ribs that would otherwise make the front pillar garnish resistant to flexing, nor splitting and scattering of a part of the front pillar garnish. Moreover, since the impact absorbing ribs are formed on the section(s) of the front pillar garnish that receives little deformation, the impact of a secondary collision to an occupant can be absorbed effectively by the impact absorbing ribs.
Modes for carrying out the present invention are explained below by reference to embodiments of the present invention shown in the attached drawings. The above-mentioned object, other objects, characteristics and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description of the embodiments of the invention presented below in conjunction with the attached drawings.